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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="font-family: Arial;">===========================================<br>
L O W L A N D S - L - 11 January 2009 - Volume 07<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><br>
From: <span class="ep8xu"><span><span style="color: rgb(0, 104, 28);">Luc Hellinckx</span></span></span><span class="hccdpe"> </span><span class="ldacoc"><<a href="mailto:luc.hellinckx@gmail.com">luc.hellinckx@gmail.com</a>></span><br>
Subject: <span class="hccdpe">LL-L "Cultural contacts"</span><br>
<br>
Beste Mike, </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">You wrote:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: black;"><span style="word-spacing: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">And, getting back to Luc's example, MY humble (or not
so) opinion is, if, as described, it was "a close knit community of
Koreans", and they had their social values (and rules), and the Japanese
woman chose to live there with them (cause it was cheap, i suspect!), then she
should have better accepted the values or ship back home!</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Actually happened the other
way round. The Japanese woman (Aki) is a sexer (checking the sex of chicks) and
she's quite aware (and ashamed) of whatever sort of racism Japan has
exerted in the past (burakumin for example). There used to be quite a lot of
Japanese sexers here in Europe, but recently
they have been replaced by Chinese and Korean sexers, because they're cheaper.
It leads too far to describe in what kind of conditions these people are
working, but let me just tell you that a bunch of sexers always operate in a
group on a very tight schedule. Aki's been doing the job for almost ten years
now (Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain) and is very well adapted
to European life, the Koreans have recently been "transplanted" en
masse from Korea, and are very, very invisible. Yet, the experienced sexers
(very few left) have to live 24 hours a day with the newcomers (often days in a
row). Result = tension...but also friendship apparently, 'cause her boyfriend
is Korean *s*.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"><span style="word-spacing: 0px;"> I have spent too many hours listening to
ex-pats (alas sometimes myself included!) complain about the "way THEY do
things here". As THEY say in the good ole US of A,</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">a)
if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">b)
my country, love it or leave it</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;">c)
there's two ways of doin' things:; my way and the highway!</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">(that
was a multiple choice test; did you pass?)</span><span style="font-family: Arial; color: black;"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">I choose a)...do I win a
price now? *s* Btw, I hope a) also applies to non-American kitchens? *s*.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Kind greetings,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;">Luc Hellinckx</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></p>